


Day Twenty Eight

by walkerofthestars



Series: Whumptober 2020 [28]
Category: Nightwing (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Absent heroes AU, Barbara Gordon is Batwoman, Bruce Wayne is Not Batman, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Kidnapped, Stranded, Such Wow Many Normal Very Oops, Whumptober 2020, accidents hunting season mugged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28191684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkerofthestars/pseuds/walkerofthestars
Summary: Whumptober 2020Such wow, many normal, very oopsAccidents, hunting seasons, muggedAs the conversation continued Dick turned to Barbara.“that waiter is armed.”She nodded, “I noticed.”Dick took a deep breath, looking around the room. He picked up the drink the waiters had just refilled, this time pretending to take a sip, using the chance to smell it, checking for anything.“almond smell,” Dick muttered to Barbara.“shit,” she hissed between her teeth, “shit, shit, shit.”
Series: Whumptober 2020 [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055567
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	Day Twenty Eight

**Author's Note:**

> this ties in to Day Five, where the leaguers quit but all their kids inevitably end up being heroes anyway. however, this one is just the batfam because _chaos_

Bruce smiled at the waiters and staff of the restaurant, flashing the well-known Wayne grin. He ordered food and made sure everything was in line. He had booked out a room for the night.

“so, what was wrong with having this at the manor?” Damian asked, analysing the chairs as if he was looking for the best one to sit in.

“this way we don’t have to worry about catering,” Bruce explained, taking a seat. “Alfred wanted a break.”

“that would be an understatement,” Alfred said, walking in, “Miss Brown and Master Tim just arrived. I called Jason, he’s on his way.”

Cas smiled, sitting on Bruce’s left, “Barbara?” she signed.

“on her way as well,” Alfred said.

Bruce took out the shoebox he’d placed on the floor beneath the table, “good, now phones in the box.”

Damian groaned and Cass pouted, but they both put their phones in with Bruce’s, Tim and Steph walked in and their phones joined.

“arriving together? And you didn’t even bite each other’s heads off,” Damian smirked.

“thankfully. I’d rather not clean that up,” Alfred said.

Jason arrived soon after, all of them sitting down together at the table, drinks being brought to them to start the evening. They weren’t dressed _fancy_ per se, more so comfortably. Bruce was in a suit purely because he _lived_ in suits these days. But Damian was wearing a button up shirt and jeans. Tim and Steph in casual clothes, having merely showered and got dressed after their lectures at college. Jason had at least decided to throw on a leather jacket to keep up the bad boy aesthetic he loved so much, but everyone at the table knew it was a façade.

“you know, we should do this more often,” Steph said, “I miss having family dinners where we get to go home and not care about anything.”

“Really? And you didn’t even do the dishes,” Alfred mused, smiling.

“uh, we have two more?” a waiter asked, entering the room.

Bruce nodded and the waiter went to let them in.

“wait, two?” Jay frowned, twisting in his chair to look at the door.

And in walked Barbara. And Dick.

“evening all,” Barbara smiled, wearing a dress shirt and black slacks with boots, a strange mix that somehow worked perfectly on her.

Meanwhile, everyone was gaping at Dick.

“you made it?” Bruce grinned.

“barely,” he said, an awkward laugh fighting to break out.

Damian leaped up to hug him, Tim offered a fist bump as he sat down, Jason provided a judgemental eyebrow raise.

“sorry I haven’t been around, been busy,” Dick said sheepishly.

“yeah?” Jason smirked, “got a story?”

Dick made the face of someone who very much did not want to tell it, an awkward laugh managed to escape, “it’s convoluted.”

“I finally beat your score!” Damian boasted, the topic changed horribly quickly, but all present let it slide.

There was an air of awkwardness, a degree of sync that was not there, but they made do. They were just happy that Dick was home and he had come.

The issue was, however, that the night was doomed from the start.

The venue was one Bruce always loved, his parents had gone to it for years. However, that meant people _knew_ it was a Wayne family staple.

The mobs of Gotham were changing. Batman hadn’t been around for years and they had thrived in his absence, but now Nightwing was running around and they were being forced to change strategy. It didn’t help that Wayne put so much money into infrastructure and education and safety measures and all kinds of things. Sure, the police department got _some_ money, but for the most part it was the fact that the lower streets were not the same. There weren’t as many kids wondering around looking for a home, there weren’t as many orphanages slowly crumbling. really, the only mobs as dangerous as they used to be were those owned by the big bads, the crazies and psychos who ran ruckus through Arkham and that one particular part of lower Gotham who no one crossed into unless they were desperate or looking for trouble.

Dick traversed those areas plenty, and he’d heard whisperings about the Waynes. That people wanted them gone. Partly because they were doing too much good, partly because they needed a face to blame. And Nightwing was a faceless hero.

So here Dick was, catching up with the family and keeping a vigilant eye.

But.

He could not let his family know that.

Partly because they didn’t know about Nightwing and Batman and all that mess. Partly because Dick wanted them to believe, for a moment, that he was there purely to be the big brother he missed he was and wished he was.

He and Barbara had run a perimeter check, they’d scoped the place for weapons the day before, they’d background checked the workforce, they’d gone crazy with paranoia over it all. Batwoman and Nightwing had probably never focused so much on a _rumour_ before in their vigilante crime fighting lives.

So they were decently at ease. But still alert.

Always alert.

“you know I’m almost surprised you didn’t use this as an extended family reunion,” Jason chuckled, “I haven’t seen Uncle Clark in _months_ , Uncle Oliver longer.”

Steph pouted, “yeah, I miss Aunt Diana and I wanna prank everyone with Wally again.”

Dick pursed his lips, thinking over the fact that Wally had asked him just the other day if there would be a big get together any time soon. Wally had been wearing something _very_ red at the time.

“it might be worth getting the gang back together,” Bruce mused, shooting Dick a conspicuous look.

“why do you even know all those people?” Damian frowned, “Queen I understand, the rest confuse me.”

“I think there’s an equally convoluted ‘I knew a guy a who knew a gal who knew a bloke’ story for each of them,” Jason said, “maybe one day we’ll have to go through them all.”

Damian huffed, crossing his arms, clearly annoyed that ‘one day’ was not ‘today’.

Dick couldn’t help but smile watching Damian interact with the rest of the family. he was only ten but Bruce had taken him in at five, which was younger than usual. Nevertheless, he’d had some growing pains getting used to the family thanks to the years spent with his mother.

Thalia Al Ghul. Dick almost shuddered just thinking of the name.

He didn’t deal with the league of assassins lots. Deathstroke had some form of business with them so they knew the history between the mercenary and hero- hence they left Nightwing alone. Dick would be glad for that if it weren’t a reminder of the target Deathstroke had put on Dick’s back, with it a claim, ‘this one’s mine, fuck off’.

He did not like Deathstroke.

But it was because of him that Dick had found out that Thalia had a child, specifically with Bruce. The Al Ghul’s subscribed to old beliefs about strong heirs coming from strong heritage, Thalia chose the man who was once Batman as a possibility. Dick did not need to hear the rest of the story, he just immediately began planning a way to get Damian out.

And now here they were, seven years later, Damian was just a normal kid. it was worth the grudge Dick now had with Ra’s Al Ghul. One day Dick would tell Damian the story.

“earth to Grayson!”

Barbara was clicking in his face. Dick blinked, zoning back in. it seemed he may have got less sleep recently than he’d thought- that was strange, he could have sworn three hours was his minimum.

“just asked you a question moron,” Jason snickered, “are you working the DeTrant case that’s been on the news lately?”

Dick shrugged with one shoulder, “a little, it’s largely Gotham based, even though a lot of it _occurred_ in Bludhaven, so I have to work alongside Gotham detectives.”

“I imagine you’ve got FBI or Homeland breathing down your necks,” Bruce said.

“oh yeah,” Dick huffed, rubbing at his neck, he was beginning to realise just how sore it actually was, had someone hit him harder than he’d noticed? Probably, he got hit a _lot_ these days.

“yeah well they were breathing down your neck for the McCarthy case, too, we all know how that turned out,” Jason snorted. Dick almost pointed out that the remark meant Jason was actually actively keeping up with Dick’s work life, as it was he shot Jason a smile and felt his heart warm silently.

“honestly, Homeland should just hire you at this point,” Tim snickered.

Barbara and Dick shared a look, managing to hold back the giggles. They may have had one too many drinks at this point, oops. But the idea seemed hilarious. Dick could imagine Barbara wearing the stereotypical FBI suit over the top of the Batwoman armour, holding a badge out, ‘hello, I’m agent Batwoman, I’m here to beat the shit out of you then leave you out the front of the Gotham police department’, the sunglasses over the lenses in the mask making her near blind.

It was an interesting image.

Dick did not realise it, but in no time he was entirely distracted by his family. he wasn’t paying attention to who was serving the food, to the strange after tastes, to any of it. he was catching up with a family he’d let himself grow far too distant from.

He did, however, notice that one waiter hadn’t managed to effectively hide their pistol completely from sight. He wasn’t paying _that_ little attention.

As the conversation continued Dick turned to Barbara.

“that waiter is armed.”

She nodded, “I noticed.”

Dick took a deep breath, looking around the room. He picked up the drink the waiters had just refilled, this time pretending to take a sip, using the chance to smell it, checking for anything.

“almond smell,” Dick muttered to Barbara.

“shit,” she hissed between her teeth, “shit, shit, shit.”

Dick set his glass down carefully. He would assume everyone’s was drugged. He couldn’t just get up and tell them not to drink though, he had to play this right.

He gave Bruce a pointed look, he looked back at Dick in mild confusion. Dick glanced around, no staff were watching. He pointed at his drink as inconspicuously as he could, the rest of the people at the table too wrapped up in conversation to pay much attention. Bruce glanced down at the drink, Dick held his hand over the top of the glass, Bruce looked back up at him frowning, Dick mouthed ‘poisoned’. Bruce’s face slackened with realisation. He glanced at the rest of the family.

A waiter walked in, smiling as they bustled over to Bruce, “would you like us to bring out the desserts?”

Bruce glanced at Dick, just long enough to catch Dick’s pointed look at the man’s waist. Bruce had been out of the game, but surely he noticed the awkwardness to the man’s gait and the fact that his pants were too baggy compared to the other staff, if he looked closer he’d make out the gun hidden.

“I think we’ll leave it a moment longer,” Bruce said, smiling. For all intents and purposes he seemed completely normal, a perfect actor. Steph pouted, having overheard.

The waiter, however, nodded, then turned and walked out. He glanced back, looking at Dick’s glass, still completely full.

“exit strategy,” Barbara muttered to him.

“thinking on it,” he returned, just as quietly.

“what are you two gossiping about?” Tim snickered, leaning forward.

Dick was about to answer with something to cover their asses, but Bruce cut in.

“back right door’s locked,” he said, meaning the other door into the room that would lead out into the staff only area. He gave Dick a look. Tim stared at Bruce in confusion, the whole table did except for Dick and Barbara.

Jason raised his glass to his lips, Dick grabbed it and put it back on the table, “don’t touch your drinks.”

“so we’re not going for the low key option, cool,” Barbara said, sliding the steak knife into her shirt sleeve’s hidden pocket in case she’d need it later.

“what?” Jason asked.

Dick glanced at the other door that lead into the public part of the restaurant, “do we want to try for a nonchalant escape?” he asked Bruce.

“what are you on about?” Steph asked.

Barbara made a gesture with her hands that could be taken as ‘calm down’ or ‘be quiet’.

“drinks are spiked,” Dick explained, looking at Bruce, “you’re call, but make it quick, they’ll notice soon.”

“we can try the public route, fain an emergency,” Alfred suggested.

Bruce nodded, standing from his seat. Dick, Barbara and Alfred doing the same.

“I- wait, what?” Jason asked, “you’re not making any sense.”

“rumours are running that the Wayne’s are on the top of the hit list,” Barbara said, voice still low, smooth, quiet, “drinks are spiked, the waiter’s carrying a gun, we need to leave.”

Dick picked his jacket up from where he’d hung it on the back of the chair, he swung it on, thankful for the familiar weight of the few pieces of gear he managed to hide in it.

“ _what_?” Damian asked, looking between Bruce and Barbara.

Alfred made his way to the door, Dick stopped him, deciding to go first out of a safety precaution.

“check for noise,” Barbara said.

Dick held back the ‘I know’ and leant his head against the door. There was no sound. The door was thin, yet Dick couldn’t make out anything on the other side.

Except the sound of someone walking to it.

He backed away, standing in front of Alfred as someone burst into the room, gun loaded, aimed straight at Dick.

“shit!” Jason grabbed Steph by the shoulders and pushed her under the table, Cas doing something similar to Tim and Damian.

Dick wacked the gun just a second before it fired, managing a string of hits that had the gun out of the man’s hand in a moment and the man himself on the ground not long after.

And then the other door opened, several people rushing in. Barbara stood between them and the rest. More people came in the door Dick was guarding, guns flashing.

Bruce had pushed Cas down behind a chair and was now standing between Jason and any gun he could.

“on the ground!” someone screamed, Dick wasn’t sure who.

“Dick, there are too many,” Barbara said, glancing between her friend and the gunmen before her.

“on the ground, hands in the air, now!”

Dick grit his teeth but did so. As soon as his knees hit the ground he was wacked over the head with the but of a gun and was met with the dark.

When Jason and the rest of the family woke up they found Dick and Barbara had already broken out of their cuffs. Dick was working at the lock on the door of the cell, Barbara was checking on Alfred to make sure he was okay, Bruce was slowly picking the lock on his own cuffs.

“what…” Jason blinked, staring at everyone, “what the _hell_ is going on?”

Barbara seemed to have decided Alfred was just as okay as he claimed, she moved over to Jay to start unlocking his restraints.

“we’ve been captured,” Barbara explained, “locks are minimal, there’s a window and we can see a forest,” Barbara explained.

“no guards, they haven’t confiscated weapons or anything,” Dick said, still working at the lock on the door, “I think they want us to escape.”

“weapons?” Tim asked, “what the _hell_ are you two on about.”

“do you have a communicator?” Bruce asked, having managed to get out of the cuffs.

“I’ve checked the signal, there’s nothing,” Dick said, the door’s lock clicked open, “I can send out a distress signal but it’s likely no one will receive it, we’ll need to find somewhere with a connection.”

“I peeked out the window, I think I saw a tower in the distance,” Barbara said, having finished freeing Jason and moved on to Tim. Dick and Bruce helped with everyone else, within two minutes everyone was free.

“I- what? Slow down, what is going on?” Steph asked, sticking close to Tim.

“this is why I told you to explain things,” Dick said, the edge in his voce having returned, everyone had momentarily forgotten Dick and Bruce’s issues with each other, here they were rearing their heads once more.

“okay, look,” Barbara cut through everyone’s conversation, “just, take a moment, breathe. Dick and I can explain.”

Damian stared in confusion, looking at Dick as if with a sense of betrayal at the mere idea that Dick had kept a secret from him.

“Dick and I…” Barbara looked like she was struggling to word it, “we didn’t just come tonight because we could, we’ve heard rumours that the mobs in Gotham want the Waynes dead,” Barbara explained.

“so this was just work?” Jason scowled, glaring at Dick, “and for a moment I thought you actually gave a damn.”

“Jason-“

“did it not occur to you that we might want to know that people were out to kill us?” Tim hissed.

Before the conversation could continue a crackle cut through the noise, their heads whipped over to a radio.

“good morning, Waynes,” a voice said over the radio, “shall we play a game?”

“Riddler,” Barbara hissed, glaring at the radio, Dick’s eyes flew around the room, looking for ay possible dangers, any possible clues. Riddler hadn’t been around in Bruce’s day, he appeared not long after Nightwing, rising to the occasion and finding absolute joy in causing chaos.

“now, this won’t be much of a conversation, I can’t hear a word you say,” Riddler said, “but that doesn’t matter, I just need to lay the terms,

“my men are wandering through this forest, armed. If they find you they will kill you. But. There is a tower in the distance that I’m sure you can see, if you can get to it and if you can figure out the old technology, you can call for help. This is your chance, little rich-lings, to prove your worth on this planet. Those charming smiles won’t get you out of this one. Survive? Well, I’ll be impressed.

“but, riddle me this. There is friend and foe in this forest. What bed is not slept in, what runner has no track? Sound moves well through air, but better through what else?

“good night.”

The family stared at the radio, silent.

“a river,” Dick said, looking at Barbara, “he’s talking about a river.”

“if we can find one it might be worth checking out.”

“why would he give us a tip to help us?” Bruce asked.

“this is Riddler we’re talking about, he gets a kick out of it,” Barbara snorted.

“and how would you know that?” Jason asked, a narrowed eyed stare settling on both her and Dick.

“we’ll tell you later,” Dick said, “you wouldn’t believe us anyway.”

“we should get out of here,” Damian said, “he said there’s armed men after us, we need to keep moving.”

Dick nodded, he, Barbara, Bruce, Alfred and Damian all filing out of the cell, they were in a wooden building, collapsing on itself. Outside the forest was in full green lush glory.

“I am not going anywhere with you until we start getting answers!” Jason hissed, holding Tim and Steph back from joining the others. Cas looked between the two groups, eventually leaving the cell.

“Jay-“

They heard shouting in the distance, the crash of people running through underbrush.

“we need to go!” Barbara hissed, “guys, come on!”

“no, I’m with Jay, what the hell is going on?” Tim asked, looking at Bruce pleadingly. It was clear Bruce knew whatever secret was being kept, and Tim looked horrifically hurt at the idea that Bruce had kept something from him.

“Now, we don’t have time,” Dick ordered.

“then make the explanation quick!”

Someone rushed out of the bushes, rifle in hand. Dick didn’t think, he just shoved his hand into his jacket and pulled out a shuriken, throwing it with expert aim at the rifle, it flew from the man’s relaxed grip, he gaped, surprised. Dick shot forward, making fast hits and knocking him unconscious, holding the body in front of him as his buddies crashed out of the forest and attempted to fire a barrage of bullets at him.

“out the window, now!” Barbara ordered, hustling the others back into the cell, running and stabbing the window with her steak knife she’d stashed. It shattered and she kicked the rest of the glass clinging to the side out with her boots, shepharding the others out.

“what about Dick?” Steph asked, looking back.

“he’s fine, come on!”

And he <em>was</em> fine, he moved between the men with ease, they slowly dropped around him unconscious. Dick ran to meet them at the window before more men could swarm him from the forest.

He dropped out of the window, rolling on impact and standing in one fluid movement, “go!”

He and Barbara lead them through the green, crashing through the underbrush without worrying about tracks and noise, they just had to get distance between them and the shed.

“how did you…” Jay stared at Dick like he’d never met him before. Dick felt nauseous seeing that expression.

They ran, the armed men likely deciding to draw this out for the fun of it and thus letting them get a head start. Soon the only noise was them, running, until they came across a creek. They stopped, breath huffing out in gasped heaves.

“I’m getting too old for this,” Bruce huffed.

“you’re telling me,” Alfred drawled.

Jason caught his breath and stormed over to Dick, grabbing him by the front of his jacket.

“what the hell is going on?!”

“Jay!” Barbara rushed forward only to be held back by Tim.

“start answering things, you know more than you’re letting on!”

“Jay, please,” Dick started, voice calm.

“no, we almost died, we’re stuck in a forest with no way to call for help, _what the hell is going on_?!”

Dick grabbed Jay’s hands, managing to pull them from his jacket. He glanced between everyone present.

“I’m Nightwing.”

They stared, gaping.

“I’m Batwoman,” Barbara said, voice echoing Dick’s tone perfectly.

Jay looked his brother up and down in complete confusion, he stumbled back a step, “what?”

Dick levelled a look on Bruce, “this is why you should have told them.”

“you knew?” Tim whipped to stare at Bruce.

“only for seven months,” Dick said, and for a moment Bruce thought he was actually trying to save him from some of the hatred, till Dick continued speaking, “I meant he should have told you that he used to be Batman.”

Jay gaped, “you’re shitting me,” he stared at Dick, “no, that can’t be true, we’d know by now.”

“the study has a secret entrance, I found it when I was fifteen,” Dick explained, “I became Nightwing. Bruce didn’t know till seven months ago.”

“and you tell us this _now_?!”

“I wanted to give Bruce a chance to tell you himself!” Dick hissed, “He didn’t tell me, that sucked. I wanted him to tell you, at least about being Batman. I would have told you about being Nightwing immediately after, but I couldn’t explain myself without revealing Bruce’s secret,” Dick levelled the dark, hate-filled look he had given Bruce seven months ago on him once more, Bruce was not glad for its return, “I didn’t realise that as soon as he hung up the cowl his back bone went with it.”

“what, so this is just a thing now? This family is a bunch of secret vigilantes?” Steph scowled, “is Oliver secretly Superman? No, don’t tell me, Dinah must be the flash.”

“Oliver was Green Arrow,” Barbara said, hands in her pockets, “Dinah was Black Canary.”

Steph threw her hands in the air, “you’ve got to be kidding me?!”

“look,” Dick sighed, “be as angry as you want, we deserve it, but right now we need to get out of this forest. Just bear with us for that, then you can say and do whatever.”

“now wait just a minute.”

“deal,” Damian broke in. Cas nodded with him.

“what, you want us to just talk to you like this isn’t a big deal?” Tim scowled, “no way, go fuck yourself, you can’t just pull this on us and expect us to be able to deal with it quietly.”

“that’s not-“ Dick huffed, taking a deep breath, “look, just… we can get to the radio tower, we can get out of here, and then say what you want. But don’t let this be the reason we get shot and killed.”

Tim clenched his jaw, arms crossed. But he sighed with a scowl and nodded. Steph stuffed her hands in her pockets, shoulders slack, she refused to look Barbara in the eye, “okay,” she said.

Jay glared at Dick and Barbara and Bruce. But he ground out between his teeth, “fine,” then started walking away, “tower’s this way.”

“Jay-“

“can it Grayson!” he snapped, “no apologies, let’s go.”

“what about what Riddler said?” Tim asked, “about a river?”

“he said something about sound moving through air but better through ‘what else’,” Barbara said, “if there’s a river here, maybe there’s something nearby it that we’d have a better bet at using for communications.”

“or, it’s a wild goose chase,” Jason drawled, “why would he give us a clue?”

“cause he’s the Riddler, it’s what he does,” Dick scowled, “it’s all a game to him, he’s almost as bad as joker.”

“and he doesn’t know who we are,” Barbara said, clearly meaning her and Dick, “he doesn’t realise that giving us any information is too much, he won’t have taken the necessary precautions. He thinks we’re just a bunch of Gotham elite.”

“well, creek bed,” Steph pointed out.

“yes,” Cas signed, “creek that flows from a river? Maybe we best follow it upstream?”

“that’s a point,” Barbara said, “but I think Alfred might not be suited for an uphill walk, and this creek is running decently fast, there’s likely some hills we’ll need to go up to follow it.”

“I would usually contest such a statement,” Alfred sighed, “but I am not the spring chicken I was in Bruce’s day.”

“you know about this all?” Jay asked, not angry, not even surprised.

Alfred nodded, “in fact, I knew about Master Dick’s adventures as Nightwing almost as soon as I saw the name in the news,” he smiled, “it seemed rather obvious to me.”

“and you didn’t tell Bruce?” Cas signed.

“of course not,” Alfred laughed, “Gotham needed a hero, and Bruce would have stopped Dick had he’d known. Besides,” he half-shrugged, “Master Dick needed someone to patch him up.”

“yes, well here’s me returning that favour,” Dick snickered, “Barbara, take Alfred and head to the tower, the terrain doesn’t seem too difficult. Tim, Steph, Damian you go with them. Bruce, Jay, Cas and I will follow the creek, see if we can find something else.”

Bruce nodded, so did Alfred.

“what do you think we’ll find?” Damian asked.

“no idea, but if we have a better chance at getting a message out from whatever we find I’ll want to get their sooner than later,” Dick said, “Babs, cover your tracks, those gunmen will be after us again.”

She nodded, the group split, they went their separate ways.


End file.
